GRi Newsreel 19 – 06 – 2003

Competitive Bidding Committee submits report

ECOWAS Ministers to harmonise Community Texts

Taylor should stand by ceasefire agreement - Ugoh

Tax collectors criticised for not generating enough funds

About 2,000 GWCL workers to go home

Educational Units to manage and supervise institutions

Mandela welcomes CNN African Journalist of the Year finalists

Parents urged to register births

Promote tourism in rural areas- Effah-Dartey

Floods hit Accra again

New Acting Chief Director of Ministry of Finance named

VRA workers did not cause power outages-Dr Ndoum

CPP needs commitment to win 2004 elections

Criticism of Judiciary must be devoid of fury

Health Insurance Scheme not profit-making

About 50% of sachet water is impure

Refugee centre not ideal for screening returnees

 

 

Competitive Bidding Committee submits report

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 19 June 2003 - Dr A. A. Oteng-Amoako, Chairman of the Committee on Competitive Bidding set up by the Ministry of Land and Forestry, on Thursday said there had been limited publicity to enhance competition in bidding in the Forestry Sector.

 

Presenting the Committee's report to the Minister, Professor Dominic Kweku Fobih at his office in Accra, Dr Oteng-Amoako said due to the limited nature of the publication it did not promote transparency.

 

"Notice on the sale of the forms should have been made available to the trade associations instead of having only one purchase centre, which was Accra," he said.

 

Dr Oteng-Amoako did not make the recommendations of the report public. The Minister said the sale of applications should be broadened. He said some of the irregularities the Committee found were that timber mills were located in the heart of plantations thus motivating the illegal chainsaw operator to carry out the function at odd times to feed the mills.

 

He said certain enticement from exporters also encouraged illegal felling of trees. There was also poor co-ordination between state agencies such as the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service and the Timber Industry Development Division, Dr Oteng-Amoako said.

 

Prof. Fobih thanked the Committee for finishing its work on schedule and pledged to study the report with its 25 recommendation after which he would make his remarks.

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ECOWAS Ministers to harmonise Community Texts

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 19 June 2003 - The Ad Hoc Ministerial Committee on the Harmonisation of the Economic Community of West African States Community Texts is scheduled to take place from 19 and 20 June in Accra.

   

The Ministers would examine the report of the meeting of experts of the committee comprising Ghana, Nigeria, Cape Verde, Guinea, The Gambia, Mali, Senegal and Togo. Dr Adrienne Yande Diop, ECOWAS Director of Communication, said on Wednesday in a Press release to the Parliamentary Press Corps in Accra.

 

She said a number of grey areas and discrepancies had been discovered in the Community Texts, which threatened to hinder the attainment of the objectives of ECOWAS economic integration.

 

Dr Diop said if the ECOWAS institutions were to perform optimally and to play the allotted role in the integration process, then the Legal Texts governing them must be harmonised.

 

She said a critical review of the Community Texts was further necessitated by the slow pace of implementation, by the Member States of the legal instruments of the Community which included the ECOWAS revised Treaty, the protocols and the conventions.

     

Dr Diop explained that the job of the experts was to identify the problem areas, examine them and make recommendations for their resolutions to turn them into modern legal instruments capable of contributing effectively to the integration process.

 

The ECOWAS Ministers would be called upon to examine and review the recommendations of the experts that would create an enabling legal environment to enhance the performance of ECOWAS institutions.

 

Dr Diop said in response to the challenges of economic integration, ECOWAS had created new institutions that included the ECOWAS Court of Justice, ECOWAS Parliament, The West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) and the West African Health Organisation (WAHO).

 

She said the transformation of the former ECOWAS Fund had also necessitated the creation of three new institutions, namely the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) and its two subsidiaries, the ECOWAS Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the ECOWAS Regional Investment Bank (ERIB).

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Taylor should stand by ceasefire agreement - Ugoh

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 19 June 2003 - Sonny Ugoh, Spokesman for the ECOWAS Mediation Team on the Liberian Peace Talks in Ghana, said on Wednesday that the ceasefire agreement signed by the three warring factions on Tuesday made it mandatory for President Charles Taylor to step down as part of a comprehensive peace plan.

   

He said paragraph eight of the agreement made it implicit that the stakeholders would dialogue to seek within 30 days a comprehensive peace agreement that included a transitional government in Liberia without President Taylor.

 

Ugoh was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra in reaction to a pre-condition set by the Liberian Leader before he resigns. President Taylor had asked for the removal of the indictment served on him by the UN War Crimes Court in Sierra Leone.

   

"Read paragraph eight of the agreement; it is clear," he said. The Liberian Minister of Defence, Daniel Chea, on Wednesday signed the six-page agreement on behalf of his government. The agreement which the two rebel groups, Liberians United For Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and Movement For Democracy In Liberia (MODELS), also signed, was hammered out after nearly two weeks of closed-door consultations under the auspices of the ECOWAS Mediation Team.

 

The agreement, under which a ceasefire went into effect after midnight on Tuesday, climaxed marathon negotiations at Akosombo in the Eastern Region and Accra to break the stalemate among the three opposing groups. General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Former Nigerian Head of State and Mediator at the Talks, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Executive Secretary of the ECOWAS, Ghana's Foreign Minister Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and the International Contact Group on Liberia witnessed the agreement that had gained international prominence.       

 

Ugoh said an ECOWAS Verification Team would be in Liberia on Friday as part of the ceasefire agreement to study the security situation to pave the way for the deployment of a Stabilisation Force.

 

The West African country has been plagued with more than 12 years of armed conflict forcing over 500,000 citizens to live as refugees in the est Africa Sub-Region and other parts of the world.

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Tax collectors criticised for not generating enough funds

 

Koforidua (Eastern Region) 19 June 2003 - Dr Francis Osafo-Mensah, Eastern Regional Minister, on Wednesday criticised revenue collectors of district assemblies in the region for receiving wages regularly but not working hard to generate enough revenue for development.

    

He said the situation was due to the over-reliance of the assemblies on the District Assembly Common Fund, which had negatively affected revenue mobilization.

     

Dr Osafo-Mensah made these observations in a speech read on his behalf at the inauguration of the Eastern Region Presiding Members' Association at Koforidua. He called on the Presiding Members to put in place adequate measures to facilitate revenue generation to enable the assemblies to undertake more development projects to improve the people's standards of living.

   

Dr Osafo-Mensah also appealed to the Presiding Members to ensure that monthly audit reports and trail balances were made available to enable the assemblies to effectively check corruption and misapplication of funds.

    

He asked district assemblies in the region to choose economic activities in which they had comparative cost advantage for the implementation of the Special Presidential Initiatives to create employment for the youth thereby preventing them from drifting to the urban centres for jobs.

    

Dr Osafo-Mensah called for the privatisation of waste collection in the districts and said people would be ready to pay for such services if they were convinced that the monies would be spent on the improvement of their lives.

 

He said: " We should contribute to our development because the days when we had everything free of charge must be considered to be over." Nana Kwesi Adjei Boateng, the New Juaben Municipal Chief Executive, urged the Presiding Members to come out with strategies for poverty alleviation in their respective areas in conformity with government development policies.

     

The 15-member association had Ms. Beatrice B. Boateng, Presiding Member of New Juaben Municipal Assembly as chairman, Yaw Amoako-Atta, Presiding Member of East Akim District as Vice-chairman and Tete Quao, Presiding Member of Yilo-Krobo District Assembly as Secretary.

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About 2,000 GWCL workers to go home

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 19 June 2003 - More than 2,000 workers of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) will soon be retrenched as a way of saving the company from further financial difficulties.

    

The number of workers to be affected represents about 50 per cent of the company's work force of 4,593 and the company's current debt stands at about ¢130bn.

 

Cobbie Kessie Jnr, Deputy Managing Director, Finance and Administration, who announced this on Wednesday, said the number of workers currently on the company's pay roll was virtually redundant and it would make economic sense to retrench them as soon as possible to avoid incurring more debt.

 

He was speaking when Alhaji Mustapha Ali, Minister of Works and Housing made a familiarization tour to interact with the workers of the company on Wednesday. Kessie Jnr said: "We are virtually throwing money away because we are catering for over 2000 employees who are doing absolutely nothing, besides we are paying a daily tax of ¢55m which keeps on swelling the debt."

 

He said the company would require about 18 million dollars as severance payments to carry out the retrenchment exercise.  

Kessie Jnr said another way the company could improve on the bad financial situation was for it to introduce the use of the prepaid metering system, which proved very successful on a pilot basis in Tema.

 

Samuel Gerald Odartey Lamptey, Managing Director of GWCL said on the average the company spent over ¢25bn a month to defray debts and other expenses. He said the company owed the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) close to ¢110bn and ¢12.2bn was being paid a month to defray the debt.

 

Lamptey said a loan repayment of 1.2 million pounds to the Social Security Bank and the Barclays Bank had through negotiations been converted into a ¢17.2bn with a monthly instalment payment of ¢1.0bn and the final amortization, would end in March 2005.

 

He said the loan was used to construct 13 glass fibre reinforced plastic water reservoirs in the Accra-Tema Metropolis.

Alhaji Mustapha Ali said it was about time the company re-positioned itself properly because its role was gradually being hyped away.

 

He asked the company to use a collaborative effort to settle its debt, and requested for information and suggestions on the debt situation for action. Alhaji Ali said government had come closer to taking a decision on the Private Sector Participation (PSP) in respect with the company and urged the company workers to exercise restraint.

 

He said the government wanted to broaden the debate on the matter by getting all groups such as civil society organizations and pressure groups involved to arrive at a consensus. Alhaji Ali asked the company to reconsider the use of treated water for washing vehicles adding that the company should provide alternative source of water for them.

 

Later the Minister, his Deputy Dr Brinpong Yaboah, the GWCL Managing Director and officials of the Ministry and the water company inspected some facilities at the Kpone Dam in the Dangbe West District.

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Educational Units to manage and supervise institutions

 

Koforidua (Eastern Region) 19 June 2003 - The Ministry of Education has approved a long standing demand by the Educational Units for the right to manage and supervise educational institutions established and developed by their respective religious bodies in partnership with government.

 

The approval, which was effected since October 1999, based on the recommendations of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Council was, however, communicated to the Units only recently through a circular dated on 21 May this year, signed by the Director General of the GES, Rev. Ama Afo Blay.

 

This was announced by the Greater Accra Regional Manager of the Catholic Education Unit, Mrs Iris Danquah-Asamoah, when delivering a paper on "The Church and our Catholic schools in its evangelising mission as a family of God", at the second session of the First Diocesan Synod of the Catholic Diocese of Koforidua on Monday.

 

The recommendations, which were also endorsed by the President's Committee on Review of Education in Ghana, allowed the Regional Managers of the Units privileges, including the responsibility to appoint heads, post, transfer and discipline their teachers in accordance with the laid down GES regulations.

 

The Regional Managers are to recommend their teachers for promotion and there should be no discrimination against the Units in the distribution of equipment, textbooks, stationery and funds to their schools.

 

However, the approval demands that the Regional Managers are to sign performance agreement with their respective Regional Directors of Education.

 

Mrs Danquah-Asamoah, therefore, called on stakeholders of the Unit's education system involving students, parents, teachers, managers and bishops, to play their various roles effectively to enable it recapture the discipline, moral and academic excellence the Unit's institutions were renowned for.

 

The Catholic Bishop of Koforidua, Rev Charles Palmer-Buckle, called for the setting up of a Catholic Education Endowment Fund and a Diocesan Education Committee to promote quality education delivery in the diocese.

 

Commenting on the approval in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, a Regional Manager of an educational unit, who commended the Ministry of Education for the "long-awaited decision", described it as "a fitting recognition of the missions' pioneering role in promoting education in the country since the Castles education days." 

 

He recalled that under the past situation, not only postings, transfers and release of teachers under the Units were done by District Directorate of Education (DDE), but "some of them even appointed heads for our schools, including those of other faiths, without recourse to the Regional Managers."

 

"Some DDEs discriminated against Unit schools in connection with the sharing of logistics, including furniture, text books and stationery as well teachers financial claims to favour only Local Authority schools," he added.

 

According to him, Regional Managers were not invited to meetings, seminars and workshops being organised by the GES "while we were given peanut grants to cater for our office staff."

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Mandela welcomes CNN African Journalist of the Year finalists

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 19 June 2003 - Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, on Wednesday praised the 13 finalists of the "CNN Africa Journalist of the Year" for their journalistic expertise and their relentless dedication and commitment to recounting the African story through African eyes. 

 

"For all of you journalists, working in and on Africa, are performing a social function of immense importance," he said when he met the finalists of the competition in South Africa.

 

"The well being of people can be affected by decisions reached on the basis of your reporting. You are the mirror in which governments of our continent must see themselves and report fearlessly and honestly. You are the image-makers through which the rest of the world judges our continent. Report with understanding and honesty we plead," said Mr. Mandela. 

 

A statement from CNN to the GNA in Accra said Mandela was presented with a commemorative "CNN African Journalist of the Year" plaque by Edward Boateng, founder of the competition and Ibiba DonPedro, one of the finalists, on behalf of the "CNN African Journalist of the Year 2003."

 

Chris Cramer, President, CNN International Networks said: "We have come a long way in the eight years since this competition was launched."

 

"From a fledgling initiative conceived by my colleague Edward Boateng, 'The CNN African Journalist of the Year Competition' has grown to become Africa's premier awards. This morning we are profoundly honoured to have Mandela with us.

 

"His presence is a testament to the journalistic excellence that these finalists have demonstrated and an endorsement that these awards have reached a level of prestige and recognition throughout Africa," said Cramer.

 

The 13 finalists are: Claudine Atahoun, Office de Radio diffusion et de la Télévision du Bénin (ORTB), Bénin, Maggi Barnard, The Namibian, Namibia, Ibiba DonPedro, The Guardian, Nigeria, Gill Gifford, The Star, South Africa, Eric Kakore, Radio Simba, Uganda and Anna-Maria Lombard and Alpheus Siebane, South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), South Africa.

 

The rest are Patrick Maïgua, Kenyan Television Network (KTN), Kenya, Walter Marwizi, The Standard, Zimbabwe, Betty Mkwasa, ITV-Independent Television Ltd, Tanzania, Mpho Moagi, South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), South Africa, Ambrose Namoyo, Climax Magazine, Malawi and Siphiwe Sibeko, The Star, South Africa.

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Parents urged to register births

 

Ho (Volta Region) 19 June 2003 - A Mock Parliament (MP) of School Children in Ho on Wednesday urged the government to make birth registration a major priority area in children's rights protection in the country. The event, organised by the Volta Regional Committee on Children's Rights was to mark the African Union (AU) Day of the African Child, under the theme; "Birth Registration is a Child's Right".

 

Speakers said registration of children at birth, is the foundation for the protection of their rights since unregistered children do not have a national identity and the legal, political, social and cultural rights, which go with it. They said such children are unplanned and therefore, exert extra pressure on the resources available to those children who were registered but neglected.

 

The MP observed that unregistered children were presumed to have no parents because every child who is registered is identified with parents, whom the state could readily hold accountable for reneging in their parental responsibilities.

 

 The MP therefore, called on government to spare no resources in strengthening the offices of the Deaths and Births Registry (BDR) with enough qualified personnel, logistics, information technology and more offices, especially in rural communities to make its services readily available to parents.

 

 It also called for BDR facilities to be sited at hospitals and clinics to register newly born babies. The Mock Parliament recommended that the period for free registration of births should be extended from 21 days after birth to one year and for sustained education through public and private sector collaboration in both rural and urban communities to overcome the ignorance about births registration.

 

The Volta Regional Minister, Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa, urged Unit Committees, Town, Urban and Area Councils to keep local registers of births and act as intermediaries between their areas of jurisdiction and the BDR in capturing all births. This, he said, could help overcome the reluctance of parents to travel to BDR far away from them to register their children.

 

He suggested that the period for free registration of children should be extended from 21 days after birth to five years. The Mock Parliament was preceded by a sketch on the importance of birth registration in general and possession of birth certificate as vital proof for eligibility to hold political office.

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Promote tourism in rural areas- Effah-Dartey

 

Bechem (Brong Ahafo) 19 June 2003 - The Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Captain (RTD) Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey has said provision of hotels and guesthouses in rural communities could attract tourists and investors to the areas.

 

He said such facilities would also offer jobs for the unemployed. The Deputy Minister was addressing the Brong Ahafo Presbyterian Church Choir Union at a Church Service to round off its 39th Anniversary Celebration at Bechem in Brong Ahafo.

 

Captain Effah-Dartey said he was not happy about how people are compelled to sleep in class rooms and chapels when they attend church meetings and conferences due to lack of suitable lodging facilities.

 

Preaching the sermon, the Brong Ahafo Regional Chairman of the Church, Rev. Amoah-Kumah called on Ghanaians to develop new attitudes and lifestyles for others to emulate.

 

The Reverend Minister attributed the wars and numerous conflicts across the African continent to selfishness and pleaded with all political leaders to respect the constitutions under which they rule.

 

The Choiresters, led by their President, Mensah Diawuo, later donated fruits and other food items worth four million cedis to the Bechem Government Hospital and the School for the Deaf also at Bechem.

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Floods hit Accra again

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 19 June 2003 - Some residents of Opetekoi, near Dansoman in Accra, are reported to be obstructing efforts to construct waterways to allow for the free flow of flood waters. Residents of a number of flooded houses complained to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) about neighbours in walled houses who would not let parts of their walls to be broken to allow the flow of water.

 

Consequently, a number of houses in the Opeteikoi, Ebenezer Down and Mpoasei, Glefe and Gbegbeyisei have been flooded following the Wednesday dawn downpour.

 

During GNA's rounds to monitor the effects of the downpour, it found a number of residents wading through big pools of water in the middle of the adjoining streets to Ebenezer Down Station at Opetekoi. The waters were generally up to the upper parts of the thigh.

 

Most houses along the street were also flooded and whole and pieces of cement blocks were arranged as steps on which the people walked to their rooms.

 

Madam Alice Tetteh, a resident in the area for 12 years, told the GNA that efforts to pull down part of structures impeding the free flow of water last Saturday were frustrated by some residents. She said Madam Theresa Tagoe, the MP for the area, had brought the Ghana National Fire Service to help to pump out the water.

 

Madam Tetteh said some owners of houses in the waterways employed guards to harass anyone, who might attempt to break any wall or move any structure in the water. They also threatened to use juju power on them. She said the waters in the streets and some homes took more than six months to dry up, and added that residents were worried about the recalcitrance and threats of their fellow neighbours.

 

She appealed to the Government and the AMA to step in to save the situation. On the Atomic Road to Agege Last Stop, children were found using buckets to scoop water out of gullies in the streets and in the process asking for money from drivers for their efforts.

 

There were traffic jams in the city in the late morning hours, after the dawn downpour. Also, hordes of anxious passengers were found in a number of lorry stations waiting for vehicles. Taxicab drivers took advantage of the situation and charged more than the approved fares. They also drove empty cabs looking for those who wanted "dropping".

GRi…/

 

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New Acting Chief Director of Ministry of Finance named

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 19 June 2003 - Paul Ofori Agyiri, has been appointed as the Acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. This was contained in a statement signed by Nana Ohene-Ntow, Government spokesman on Finance and Economy, in Accra on Wednesday.

 

The statement dated 15 June said a letter from the Office of the President confirmed the approval of Ofori-Agyiri's appointment, which took effect from 16 June 2003.

 

Ofori Agyiri was until his appointment the General Manager, Legal Services and Solicitor of the Agricultural Development Bank. The statement said he had held other top-level management positions in Ghana and elsewhere.

 

He was Deputy Registrar/Director Legal Services, West African Examination Council. He has also worked at Maxwell and Maxwell Law Offices in Monrovia, Liberia and Attorney - General's Department in Ghana. Ofori-Agyiri holds LLB and BL degrees from the University of Ghana, Legon and Ghana School of Law, respectively. 

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VRA workers did not cause power outages-Dr Ndoum

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 19 June 2003 - Energy Minister Dr Paa Kwesi Ndoum on Wednesday commended the Staff and Management of the Volta River Authority (VRA) for not tampering with equipment or trying to sabotage power supply during the standoff between them.

  

He said the two "unfortunate events" of nationwide power outages were due to technical problems and urged all workers at the Authority to be mindful of the changes that were soon to occur and "act wisely".

 

Speaking to Journalists in Accra, Dr Ndoum said the VRA would be restructured as part of efforts geared towards reforming the Energy Sector.

 

The reform that begins in June sets out to separate the operations of the VRA into two entities with the aim of solving the problems at the Authority. Under the reforms thermal operations would be separated from the hydro with each having a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Management.

 

For the thermal operations, the Minister said there was currently one plant manned by VRA, a second manned by a private owner and a third that was idle.

 

The immediate measure was to combine all of the operations in a joint partnership with the aim to produce power at a low cost and under a single management.

 

"We expect the new VRA to be an aggressive power producer that will produce more energy efficiently," Dr Ndoum said. "What we need now is different expertise and new talent in financial skills as we already have the engineers."

 

The Energy Minister said he was in consultation with President John Agyekum Kufuor over the recommendations of a Committee he set up to investigate allegation made against Dr Charles Wereko Brobby, CEO of VRA. He said the Committee basically exonerated Dr Wereko-Brobby from allegations of mismanagement but said for now, the decision of the CEO to step aside for investigations to be completed and other measures taken during the workers' agitations would remain as they are.

 

He said the report and its recommendations covered three main areas - collective bargaining, specific allegations against Dr Wereko-Brobby and the Board of the Authority and technical and financial matters in relation to the running of VRA. Dr Ndoum said the collective bargaining aspect was handled with the appointment of a retired labour expert whose recommendations settled the issue.

 

What remained to be done was to implement the recommendations. The second area of the report dwelt on the specific allegations against Dr Wereko-Brobby and the Board bordering on salaries, impropriety in the procurement of cars for management staff, mismanagement of provident funds, impropriety in the procurement of crude oil and changes in working hours.

  

The Minister said there were no adverse findings against the Chief Executive in all these areas except that his management style caused conflict. On the Board, the Committee said it had not exercised sufficient control over the activities of both the CEO and the workers. It had also not implemented the company's policies effectively.

 

Dr Ndoum said the main findings of the Committee that needed attention was the third area, which covered technical and financial matters in relation to the running of the VRA, especially the running of the Strategic Reserve Plant. Dr Ndoum said he had written a report to the President on all of the issues raised and expressed the hope that they would together take a concrete decision on the issues.

 

This would not cover only the recommendations but also come out with a clear policy path for the Energy Sector towards reforms. He reiterated that the Thermal Sector had incurred a deficit of ¢950bn, saying that there was the need to further investigates the running of the Strategic Reserve Plant in order to come out with a decision that was best for the company and the country.

 

The Minister said decisions that would be taken in consultation with the President would not be limited specifically to the recommendations of the Committee. The decision would broadly be geared towards reforming the energy sector but would take cognisance of the recommendations.

GRi…/

 

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CPP needs commitment to win 2004 elections

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 19 June 2003 - Ato Sackey, an aspirant of the flagbearship of the Convention People's Party (CPP) on Wednesday said the Nkrumaist tradition needed commitment and dedication to capture power in 2004.

 

He said the party should also mobilise the masses through active involvement of the youth, new generation loyal Nkrumaists and the old guards, who should serve as inspirers. In a statement to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Sackey said the growth and strength of the party depended largely on the contributions and active involvement of all shades of opinion at all decision-making positions.

 

He called for the revitalisation of "activist politics" that would mobilise Ghanaians to fight for social rights and against inequality and exploitation. Sackey urged CPP loyalists to show great sense of mutual respect, goodwill and open faith, to the core of leaders.

 

"Our unity towards electoral victory in 2004 is more important than personal and individual interests." He urged members of the party to be truthful and unite to ensure a resounding victory in the 2004 elections. Sackey said the party had reached a stage where it had to win back political power and urged constituency executives to redouble their efforts in their respective areas to win more people into their fold.    

 

He said those whose membership was questionable should resign and find a political home where they truly belonged. "These pseudo-members use this great party to achieve their aims and now that they have what they sold their souls for, do not care about the party or its members."

 

He said the CPP stood for limited state control and ownership of enterprises especially in key areas such as health, education and other social services.

 

Sackey said the CPP believed in state involvement in strategic enterprises for the benefit of the vulnerable and rural people. "Without state interventions over 70 per cent of Ghanaians in the rural areas would not experience, benefit and feel the impact of private sector growth."

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Criticism of Judiciary must be devoid of fury

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 19 June 2003 - A legal advocate and Vice Chairman of the Ghana Arbitration Centre, Kwami Tetteh on Tuesday described public criticism of the performance of the judiciary as a healthy democratic exercise but said it must be devoid of fury.

 

He cautioned against the growing tendency among some persons to discredit court decisions in radio phone-in programmes on the perceived party political leaning or affiliation of the judge.

 

He noted that this attitude was not limited to court decisions, saying today everything is viewed in terms of political parties without regard to the real issues at stake.

 

"The polarity is becoming senseless and stressful and the media must do something about it," Tetteh said at the on-going public lectures organised by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) in Accra. The lectures are under the general theme: "The Judiciary in the Fourth Republic."

   

Tetteh urged media practitioners, and socio-political commentators to research and have an in-depth knowledge of national issues before engaging in public discussions. The lectures are to throw a searchlight on the institutions of the Judiciary and the judicial process in the Fourth Republic.

 

He said the Judiciary had never claimed to be above criticism. "Its actions and conduct must be subject to the same measure of public scrutiny as any other governmental institution. "However, it must be done with circumspection to ensure that delivery of justice is not undermined."

 

Examining governmental reactions to the administration of justice in the country since independence, Tetteh said various governments had shown their dissatisfaction with the outcome of some judgements, which they perceived as having political undertones.

 

He said the Judiciary must never be perceived as a wing of the Executive. Tetteh said, even though, the President appoints the Chief Justice, that should not foster such relationship as it would compel one to knock day and night at the door of the other. 

GRi…/

 

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Health Insurance Scheme not profit-making

 

Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 19 June 2003 - Dr Kyei Faried, Deputy Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services, has said the Health Insurance Scheme (HIS) is not a profit-making social benefit for members to expect profit at the end of every year. He said rather, the scheme is designed to take care of the hospital bills of members of associations and groups operating it.

 

Dr Faried was explaining the mode of operation of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) to members of the Ashanti regional branch of the Association of Small-Scale Industries (ASSI) at a one-day workshop on Wednesday in Kumasi

 

The workshop was organised by Micro-Care Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in collaboration with ASSI and sponsored by Alhaji Yakubu Herbal Clinic. He said the districts, associations and groups must set their own premiums based on their ability to pay and the ailments prevalent in their areas as well as set out guidelines and regulations on their operations.

 

That is why, Dr Faried said, some aspects of the draft bill on the NIS were flawed and people are calling for amendments to the proposals before it was laid before parliament. He said, for instance, fixing uniform premium by the government for all districts as well as specified diseases to be covered by the scheme was unrealistic.

 

''The various districts have different financial and health peculiarities. ''The best thing to do is to allow the districts to fix premiums based on their peculiarities and diseases prevalent in the areas'', adding that anybody who did not belong to any insurance scheme by the end of the year would pay cash and carry.

 

James Adu Bonah of the Nkoranza HIS said the most important aspect of a health insurance scheme was its management and the mode of collection of monies.

 

He cautioned against merging the scheme with social services such as funerals and said such a merger by any association or group of people would lead to its collapse. Bonah also mentioned some moral hazards associated with the scheme as the prescription of expensive drugs and said there was the need, therefore, for groups and associations to have first choice drugs for everybody.

 

Cash recovery, he said, was another important aspect of the scheme and that it was very necessary for associations or groups to work out premiums that would enable them to recover cost. Bonah said fraud was the greatest danger to the success of the scheme and advised associations and groups not to set out guidelines and regulations that would facilitate fraud.        

 

Kwame Buor, Ashanti Regional Chairman of ASSI, said government was in the process of assisting the association with credit facilities but said it would be tied to better organisational structure of the various associations and the health status of members.

 

He said the association would, therefore organise HIV/AIDS and other health related workshops for barbers and hairdressers.

GRi…/

 

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About 50% of sachet water is impure

 

Vakpo (Volta Region) 19 June 2003 - Kofi Agbogah, a Research Scientist at the Water Research Institute (WRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has said about 50 percent of sachet water on the market was contaminated by microbes.

 

Speaking at a symposium on Freshwater at Vakpo in the Kpando District he said the situation had arisen because most producers of the sachet water normally submitted only the first batches of products to the WRI for scrutiny.

 

He said after that they failed to submit subsequent batches of their products for the necessary tests. Agbogah said the WRI did not have the capacity and mandate to police water on the market and relied on the public for samples for testing whenever they doubted its efficacy.

 

On the coloration of pipe-borne water, Agbogah said that could happen because of seepage of foreign material through broken pipelines due to age and not because water was not well treated by the Ghana Water Company (GWC). He said the major source of water pollution in the country was improper disposal of domestic waste and not by industrial activities.

GRi…/

 

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Refugee centre not ideal for screening returnees

 

Essipon (Western Region) 19 June 2003 - Solomon Doku, Western Regional Commander of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has noted that the Essipon Refugee Reception Centre is not ideal for the screening and documentation of refugees and returnees.

 

He said most of the Ghanaians and other nationals, who arrived aboard GNS Bonsu on Tuesday, could not be screened, adding "most of them mingled with sympathizers who besieged the centre and escaped to town".

 

Doku who disclosed this to the Ghana New Agency (GNA) in an interview at Essipon in the Western Region on Tuesday said out of over 1,300 returnees, 1,066 were screened due to the un-conducive conditions at the centre.

 

He said the GIS, however, screened 705 Ghanaians, 350 Liberians, six Beninois, two Togolese, two Burkinabes and an Ivorian. Doku said all stakeholders in the handling and management of refugees and returnees would meet within the week and re-organise their strategies to make future exercises fruitful.

 

Padmore K. Nyekopa-Arthur, Western Regional Co-ordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) said the region would soon get a new refugee centre, to safeguard the lives and property of both refugees and Ghanaian returnees.

 

James Kennedy, of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) an UN agency for refugees, in-charge of Operations and Logistics said his organization is waiting at the Essipon Centre, waiting for other ships with returnees and assist them.

 The exercise was co-ordinated by the Ghana Police, Criminal Investigations Department (CID), the Ghana Red Cross and the Ministry of Health.

 

All the Ghanaians were dispatched to their respective hometowns while other nationals, had to wait for some days to enable NADMO and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide them with transport and other items for settlement. M. K. Osman from the National Secretariat of NADMO in charge of Relief and Rehabilitation was there to assist.

GRi…/

 

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